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Reeves et al. 1993
Reeves, G.D., Belian, R.D., Fritz, T.A., Kivelson, M.G., McEntire, R.W., Roelof, E.C., Wilken, B. and Williams, D.J. (1993). Structured plasma sheet thinning observed by Galileo and 1984-129. Journal of Geophysical Research 98: doi: 10.1029/93JA02290. issn: 0148-0227.

On December 8, 1990, the Galileo spacecraft used the Earth for a gravity assist on its way to Jupiter. Its trajectory was such that it crossed geosynchronous orbit at approximately local midnight between 1900 and 2000 UT. At the same time, spacecraft 1984-129 was also located at geosynchronous orbit near local midnight. Several flux dropout events were observed when the two spacecraft were in the near-Earth plasma sheet in the same local time sector. Flux dropout events are associated with plasma sheet thinning in the near-Earth tail during the growth phase of substorms. This period is unique in that Galileo provided a rapid radial profile of the near-Earth plasma sheet while 1984-129 provided an azimuthal profile. With measurements from these two spacecraft we can distinguish between spatial structures and temporal changes. Our observations confirm that the geosynchronous flux dropout events are consistent with plasma sheet thinning which changes the spacecraft's magnetic connection from the trapping region to the more distant plasma sheet. However, for this period, thinning occurred on two spatial and temporal scales. The geosynchronous dropouts were highly localized phenomena of 30 min duration superimposed on a more global reconfiguration of the tail lasting approximately 4 hours. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1993

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Magnetospheric Physics, Energetic particles, trapped, Magnetospheric Physics, Plasma sheet, Magnetospheric Physics, Storms and substorms, Magnetospheric Physics, Current systems
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research
http://www.agu.org/journals/jb/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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